About Ventures

Ventures empowers individuals with limited resources and unlimited potential
to improve their lives through small business ownership.

Our Mission

Ventures is a Seattle-based nonprofit that empowers aspiring entrepreneurs with limited resources and unlimited potential. We provide access to business training, capital, coaching, and hands-on learning opportunities for entrepreneurs. We serve those in our community for whom traditional business development services are out of reach, with a focus on women, people of color, immigrants, and individuals with low income. Our ultimate goal is to support individuals to increase their income potential, achieve long-term financial stability, provide for their families, and enrich their communities through small business ownership.

Coaching helps our entrepreneurs identify and overcome barriers to business success. Our coaches are teachers, mentors, counselors, and business consultants. Coaches work side by side with business-owners as they create marketing, sales, and financial plans but they do more than help with business plans and goal setting – they are cheerleaders. Ventures’ Business Coaches are great listeners, ask open-ended questions, motivate, and meet our entrepreneurs where they’re at.

Our Entrepreneurs

Ventures’ ultimate goal is to empower our entrepreneurs to increase their incomes and achieve long-term financial stability. Our typical client supports a family of two on approximately $24,000 per year when they enter our program. At Ventures, a single mom of two can become a CEO of her own microenterprise, a disabled veteran can launch his dream business, or an ambitious immigrant can achieve the American Dream.

Women73%

People of color67%

Immigrants30%

Latino/a30%

Our Vision

We envision a nation in which all individuals who seek to succeed as small business owners have access to the tools and resources they need to increase their incomes and achieve financial stability. We aim to make Ventures a national leader in microenterprise development by offering effective programming, sustainable operations, and innovative growth strategies to create an always-increasing impact on our community.

Our Story

Ventures was founded in 1995 by Peter Rose after he visited a Grameen Bank program in Bangladesh. Since then, we have adapted the Grameen model to the Puget Sound region and created innovative training programs and financial services tailored to the needs of low-income entrepreneurs. We have continually adapted our approach to incorporate industry best practices and meet the changing needs of our business owners.